


Rediscovery

by TheDoctorIsIcecube



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe, Amnesia, Angst and Fluff, Developing Relationship, M/M, Zelink Week
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-22 02:02:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12471000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDoctorIsIcecube/pseuds/TheDoctorIsIcecube
Summary: (Written for Zelink week 2017, a collection of connected oneshots)When Link woke up, there was someone by his side. Someone who remembers him, but he can't remember the Sheikah for the life of him. They shared something in the past, something he can't remember, so instead they have to build their relationship from the ground up.





	1. Awakening

It was clear from the beginning that something was wrong with how he was waking up. While the waking was peaceful, as if he was just leaving a peaceful sleep, it took too long. He was meant to wake much faster than that. And Sheik had expected him to be alert, but he looked bleary and confused and wholly distant from everything. Something was wrong. He sat up in his pod, watching the remains of the water drain away, and Sheik stepped out from the shadows. He’d been asleep, too, but obviously his long sleep had been kinder on him than Link’s had on him. 

“Link?” Sheik stepped forward again, concern etched into his expression. It had been a hundred years- whilst he remembered it, everything they’d done together, like it was yesterday...perhaps it wouldn’t be the same for Link.

Link opened his mouth, and no sound came out for a moment. That was fine, Link was always quiet, and while it shot him through with fear in this situation, he sort of knew that it wasn’t out of the ordinary. “I-” his voice faltered. It was all raspy from sleep, which was also fine. He hadn’t used his voice in a century, after all. “Who are you? What’s going on?”

That was much less fine. Sheik’s heart sank down into his toes, and for a moment he couldn’t find the words to answer Link’s questions. “I- My name is Sheik. You knew me, before we went to sleep. Tell me- what do you remember, Link? Anything? Even any names?”

“I don’t…” He just shook his head after trailing off. “I don’t remember anything. Why were we asleep? How long?” His mind seemed to be functioning, which was something, but goddesses Sheik wished it wasn’t like this. This was almost the worst outcome possible for all of this (then again, he hadn’t seen outside the shrine yet, so it could easily get worse).

“Hold on…” Sheik crossed to the side of the room, kicking open two chests and handing the clothes inside to Link. “Get dressed, and just...let me have a look around. Something in here will trigger your memories, surely.” He left Link to put his clothes on and headed to the faintly discoloured stone slab that he knew to be a door. The Sheikah Slate ought to be here somewhere…unless it would only show itself for Link. “Can you come here a moment?”

Link approached, and Sheik nearly laughed. The clothes had not been fitted for Link; they were designed for someone more the size of the average Sheikah, so they fit him pretty well but they were tiny on Link. There was a gap where Sheik could see the jagged, faded scar on Link’s stomach. He didn’t have much time to stare at it, though- the ancient Sheikah mechanisms started to creak into life, the pedestal lighting with a blue glow as the slate finally revealed itself. “Link, you take that. I don’t know what sort of a state it’s in after all these years, but it ought to work if Zelda left it for you…”

At the mention of that name, Link’s head snapped up. “Did you say Zelda? I- I know that name. I don’t know why, but I do…” Sheik tried not to be offended that Link knew the name of the princess they guarded but he hadn’t remembered his name.

“The Princess of the kingdom of Hyrule,” Sheik said, trying not to let his rather bitter feelings seep into his voice. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the princess, but he was sort of hurt that Link didn’t remember him. “The two of us were her bodyguards. When we were injured in battle one hundred years ago, she went to the castle to fight off the Calamity Ganon, putting us into sleep to avenge Hyrule when we were healed. Your injuries were considerably worse than mine, which is perhaps why I remember everything and you...don’t.” Sheik swallowed down the lump in his throat, reminding himself that crying was hardly a professional thing to do. 

“Oh,” was all Link said for a minute. He frowned, deep lines creasing his forehead as he studied the Sheikah Slate in his hands. “You...I know who you are, but I can’t remember it. It’s like there’s a block…I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Sheik said, trying not to feel too happy that Link still held some vague memory of him. “Let’s just focus on getting out of here. Put the Sheikah Slate on the pedestal, and the door will open.” Link did as he suggested, and the runes on the door flashed for a moment before it opened. His body seemed to be working fine now, Sheik noticed, because Link made light work of the small rock face blocking their way out.

“You- we-” Link sighed out of frustration. “It’s...I know something. But it’s like a dream. We were something. You were something to me, you are something, but that something is missing and I can’t find it. I’m sorry. I can feel that it’s missing, but I can’t find it.”

“We can fill it,” Sheik said, with a shrug, and he walked out of the cave out to see the expanse of Hyrule. “We can fill that space with something new.” Slowly, he walked to the edge of the nearby cliff, tilting his head up to the golden light of the sun. It had been a hundred years since he had gazed upon the beauty of Hyrule, and he was indescribably relieved to find that it wasn’t entirely in burning ruins. 

A few moments passed, and Link jogged up to join him. He didn’t speak for a while, and Sheik was fine with that. It was easier this way- he could pretend it was like old times, just the two of them watching the sun together. And then Link shifted, and spoke.

“Sheik...Whatever we had, and whatever’s happened here...obviously things used to be nice, so I hope it can go back to being that way soon. After- after we find Zelda.” Sheik tried not to be disappointed by that. He didn’t want to wait. What if it took a long time? What if it took them years and he was in love but they were held back by a comment made now? Before Link could know him again?

“She’s there,” he said, nodding towards the castle. It was surrounded by a dark pink fog he recognised from before. Far off in the distance, he could see the red light of Guardians surrounding the castle. They wouldn’t be able to get there as they were, with no weapons or armour or even clothes that fit Link. “We’ll be able to reach her some day.”

“Some day,” Link agreed. He sighed, and maybe it was Sheik’s imagination, but he thought Link moved just a little bit closer to him. Some day could apply to other things too, or maybe that was his wishful thinking, but goddesses he wanted it. He wanted them to be together again, in the way they used to be.


	2. Kakariko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (No prompt) Link and Sheik make their way to Kakariko and meet someone who is uncomfortably familiar for Sheik.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is without a prompt bc we tried to write the second prompt and it just wouldn't go, so maybe the next chapter will be right!

It had been a long and reluctant trek to make it all the way to Kakariko Village. Link was determined to follow the advice of the ghostly king, too driven by his newfound sense of purpose to notice that Sheik was distinctly uncomfortable. The king’s version of events had neatly left out any mention of Sheik or the role he’d played, instead making it sound almost like Zelda and Link had been the ones who were in love. That thought alone had been enough to put Sheik in a sour mood for half of their journey, and the memories of his old home were enough to keep him grumpy for the rest of the trip.

“It looks different now,” he said. Link didn’t react to his voice for a solid five seconds, probably completely lost in thought. Sheik didn’t know exactly what he was thinking about, but he let it happen. They couldn’t talk all the time, and he didn’t feel like talking all the time, especially because he didn’t want to snap at Link.

“What was it like before?” Link asked. Of course, he didn’t remember anything from then. That was probably the only thing he and Link ever talked about; things Sheik remembered but Link did not.

“Different. A lot smaller, and even more well-hidden.” Sheik shrugged, keeping his head down as they entered the village. He really did not want to be recognised. “I left here when I was fairly young. The first time we met, you were running an errand for your father and I was about to pass out from exhaustion because I’d walked all the way from Kakariko without food or water.”

"How old were you? How old was I? Hang on, how old are we now?" Link's questions were so frequent and they were always like this. It was a wonder Link remembered all the responses, because he never asked the same question twice. It was nice to see him being so curious.

"We were... I think we were both about ten years old. That was two years before we started training to be Zelda's guards, and seven years before the war. Technically, we're both a hundred and seventeen now, although physically I'd say just seventeen." Sheik chanced a glance up from the floor, only to discover several pairs of eyes on them. "We're being watched," he murmured. "You don't blend in well here, Link."

"Do people not come here?" Link's voice dropped to a murmur and Sheik internally chided himself when his heart skipped a beat at the sound. "You don't really fit either, we have the wrong clothes."

"At least I have the right looks, though. You, on the other hand, are the perfect image of a Hylian." And a very attractive one at that, Sheik wanted to say. Would have said, a hundred years ago. Now, though, he kept it to himself. "Come on. Impa, the king said. She'll be in the biggest house..." Oh, Sheik wasn't looking forward to this at all.

They walked towards the house that had always been the elder's hut (Impa had come far in a hundred years), but the guards outside stopped them as they approached. There had never been guards at the entrance to a simple house before. The elder wasn't meant to be worth more than the other villages when it came to protection. "We're here to see the village elder," Sheik declared simply. Link shifted his posture a little, showing off the slate on his hip. That had never failed to get people out of their way before, and it didn't fail again now. The guards parted with surprised apologies, directing them up the stairs and inside.

"Works every time," Link said with a grin, and Sheik's heart absolutely melted. He was so gay for this man. "Not just a handy telescope, then."

"It can do other stuff too," Sheik reminded him. "That stuff is just locked away for some reason, at least at the moment. We might be able to get it sorted out in the village."

"I should hope so. There's only so many metal boulders I can fling at monsters before it starts to get boring." Link strode on ahead up the steps, obviously eager to get in there quickly. There was a young woman cleaning the floors outside, with the eye of the Sheikah tattooed over her face. Some sort of religious devotee, then, if Sheik remembered everything correctly.

"Oh-oh, you're, um, Lady Impa isn't accepting visitors right now," she said. Sheik scowled slightly on hearing the title. He hated formalities and titles and all the false respect that came with them. "You can come back later."

"It's really rather urgent," Link said, turning to show the Sheikah Slate. The young woman sat bolt upright, face flushing bright red like she was about to explode. It was almost endearing, almost sad. Sheik just took a step back, bracing himself for the inevitable tidal wave of apologies.

"Oh, are you Master Link? It's, ah, such an honour to meet you! I didn't even realise that- oh, this is exciting!" Her face was scarlet and she was smiling so brightly and she wasn't even looking at Sheik. She was looking at Link like he was the sun itself. If Link was going to have this effect on every woman in Hyrule, it was going to be a long journey. 

"I, um... I suppose I am," Link said sheepishly. Sheik tried not to be too glad that he wasn't enjoying all the female attention. "Please could we see Impa, now?"

"Of course!" She said. "If you could wait out here, sir, I'm sure that what Master Link wants to discuss isn't for anyone's ears except the elder's. I'm sure you know his mission is very impor-" Sheik pushed past her, ignoring her words, and opened the doors for Link.

Maybe that was a little rude, and he would feel guilty about it later, but he'd had it up to here with being ignored. Link stepped inside and Sheik did too, letting the heavy wooden doors swing shut behind them. A wizened old woman sat on a cushion at the back of the house, wide-brimmed hat obscuring her face. Sheik recognised her immediately. A hundred years separated them now, but it was hard to forget the face of one's own cousin.

"It has been a very long time," Impa said. Her voice sounded so much like the voice of Sheik's grandmother. It hurt to see Impa so old. "I have awaited your return for so long. Both of you."

"Impa," Sheik said quietly, managing a respectful nod. "It's been a while." She chuckled at that, nodding slowly.

"Indeed it has, young ones. Long gone are the days when we played together as children, Sheik. And Link... There's no spark of memory in those eyes. Don't tell me you've forgotten even your old friend Impa?"

They were never friends. In fact, Impa and Link had met only once, and Link had barely tolerated her at the time. He hated all the ceremony that came with being the hero, and meeting the Sheikah was part of that. They'd treated him like an object the whole time, apparently. But Sheik didn't like to say that here. He could let Link do the talking for once; Link was better at not pissing people off. "Sorry," he said. "Sheik's told me everything that happened, but my memory of a hundred years ago is still all gone." Link unhooked the Sheikah Slate from his waist, showing it to Impa. "Can you fix this for us?"

Impa considered it for a moment. "I cannot," she said. Her eyes lingered on Sheik's face for a moment, and he felt distinctly uncomfortable. "But I can send you to someone who does and give you some advice. My sister lives east of here and will be able to fix this, and from there I imagine you will be able to find something of use to you in recovering your memories. In terms of your quest, however, you should proceed to the Divine Beasts that were corrupted during the Calamity and free them. This will allow you to approach the castle." Impa's sister... That would mean Purah. She had always been rather bookish and eccentric, and Sheik had never talked to her much. She was always too busy with her nose buried in science to play, and by the time he'd grown old enough to appreciate academics, he was estranged from the village already.

"Thank you," Link said, repeating the motion of respect Sheik had used earlier. "May we stay in the village for a day or two? We have travelled quite a distance to reach here and we need to spend time gathering provisions and money for armour."

"You may," Impa said, and Sheik very nearly screamed. He didn't want to stay here. This village was stupid and claustrophobic and he didn't want to see all the people he used to know when they were only children.

"You're very kind," Link said with a smile, and Sheik forced himself to smile too. As soon as he felt it was acceptable to walk out, he did so, Link hurrying along behind him. "Sheik! Hey- I'm sorry, I know you aren't comfortable here, but I'm exhausted. I need a day's rest." Link looked at him, blue eyes meeting red, and Sheik felt the anger tightening his chest melt away. Link had slept for a hundred years, and so had he. They both needed opportunities to rest a little more frequently than they'd used to.

"It's okay," he said, shooting Link a hopefully encouraging smile (Sheik really really hoped he didn't look lovesick). "We can rest, and like you said we need to gather food for the next leg of the journey. I also want to see if we can catch a horse, so don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Link said, starting towards a shrine they could see on a cliff edge that had been there when Sheik was a child here so long ago now. There was a strange expression on his face that Sheik wanted to believe was deeper than simple gratitude. Goddesses, he wanted it to be more. He wanted it more than anything.


	3. Daily Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2: Daily Life  
> Link and Sheik take a break from adventuring to do some normal things.

Sheik woke up in the morning to find Link absent from their room in the inn. He wasn’t overly concerned- Link had, after all, shown an incredible propensity for getting himself into strange situations and accepting missions from random people. He’d spent half the previous evening dragging unwilling cuccos back into their pen, and he had the scratched-up hands to show for it.

However, that meant he was entirely alone and at the mercy of anyone who looked at him and thought ‘hang on, he’s a Sheikah and I don’t recognise him’, which was not in any way a good position to be in because they were all so comfortable with this ‘nice young man’ that they kept asking him to do favours or engaging him in conversation. Sheik sighed, rolling over in bed and deciding that he’d rather stay here for a little while longer.

Alone in the inn, his thoughts wandered to the way things used to be. When he’d been a child, every day had started with leaping out of bed and going to chase a cucco or steal fruit from someone’s tree. When he’d gotten to the castle, each day had started with an early morning run and a hearty breakfast with the other trainee soldiers. Now, each day seemed to start with an aching heart and painful reflection.

He needed to get out of bed and start doing things. Link managed to keep himself busy and not fall into idle reflection, so he should do the same thing. Sheik knew from discussions the night before that the woods would be full of food he could pick, and that would be a good way to keep himself busy while also being useful.

Before he could do any of that, though, Link burst into the room, dressed in skintight Sheikah garb. Sheik opened his mouth to say something, but all he could do for the moment was stare and be glad that he was looking at Link’s front rather than back. Link’s mouth was covered, but Sheik knew he’d be grinning behind the mask. 

“Morning!” Link sounded as cheery as ever. “Sorry, I wanted to go out and buy us some new clothes. I got you something too…I know you don’t much like wearing Sheikah clothing, so I just got you a tunic and a hood. Is that okay?”

“Hylian tunic and hood?” Sheik asked, forcing a smile onto his face. He was glad Link had bought stuff, but Sheikah clothing had always been notoriously expensive and it wasn’t exactly good in the way of protection. “Thanks, that’s great.”

“Great!” Link said. “Also, I used a nice girl’s cooking pot to make us both some breakfast.” And then Link had the audacity to hand him some hearty radish soup. Sheik got a feeling that maybe the nice girl who had allowed Link to use her cooking pot had been looking for something slightly more substantial than thanks and something to clean.

Nevertheless, the soup was pretty good. And Sheik couldn’t help but remember that this dish was supposed to be given to the person you loved most. That brought a small smile to his face, even though Link probably wasn’t aware of the tradition. “Thank you,” he said when he was done, feeling a little less tense and bitter than before. 

Sheik got out of bed after that, taking the clothes Link had bought for him and putting them on. They were surprisingly comfortable, and the hood did a good job at hiding his face. “And thank you once again, for these clothes. They’re perfect.”

“Mine are a tiny bit tight,” Link admitted, and this time Sheik grinned at him. He’d brought that one on himself.

“Maybe the shopkeeper gave you one a size too small so she could watch you walk out of the shop?” He asked with a grin, and Link flushed bright red.

“I don’t- there are more important things?” Sheik knew that there was also the simple matter that Link wasn’t attracted to women at all and he was intensely oblivious to their constant interest in him.

“It’s alright, I’m just teasing you. You look fine.” Beckoning for Link to follow, Sheik headed out of the inn and started on the long path up towards the forest. “I thought that we could pick some mushrooms, maybe find a few nuts and acorns. It’ll be good to have some f-” He stopped suddenly, flinging out an arm to stop Link going any further. “Look!” He pointed, peering deep into the trees, to where the blue glow of a Blupee shone out in the morning light. “They’re incredibly rare…”

“I’ve- have I ever seen one before?” He murmured. Sheik nodded and didn’t say anything more for now. Because they went up to Satori Mountain on a date once and they kissed under the cherry blossom tree and when night fell they waited and saw a whole crowd of Blupees together. He didn’t want to tell Link about that.

“Apparently if you hit them, they drop rupees, hence the name. But...I couldn’t bear to hit a creature like that.” Sheik smiled softly, and glanced over to see Link just watching the little animal with wonder on his face. The Blupee hopped around for a little while, until the rustle of a bird taking off from the undergrowth scared it and it disappeared in a puff of blue energy.

“I’ve seen you shoot a deer point blank,” Link said, and his voice was still hushed even though the Blupee was gone. “But I guess that was necessary for us, we really had to eat.” Sheik nodded. Link had woken up absolutely starving and then Sheik had said he’d be able to take down a deer so at that point he had to.

“Exactly. That was necessary, but that Blupee was...something special.” Sheik wished he could lean over and kiss Link. Now would be the perfect moment. But he couldn’t, so he banished the thought from his mind and carried on up into the forest. “Let’s not bother the Great Fairy today, yes? She seemed...a little too into you. I dread to think what she would have done if we’d stayed much longer.”

“She was terrifying,” Link agreed. “Let’s just grab some vegetables and maybe another deer and then we can head back into the village? You can show me some Sheikah things, I don’t know. You know normal Sheikah stuff, right?” Link was so bubbly with him. It was like Sheik wasn’t a complete stranger to him, which was nice. When they’d first met, Link had been the shyest person Sheik knew.

“I know hundred year old ‘Sheikah stuff’,” Sheik said dryly. He bent down to pluck an ironshroom from the ground next to a tree, leaning over to tuck it in Link’s bag. Apparently being the chosen hero meant being able to carry a seemingly endless amount of things in a relatively small bag. “But I can give you a tour of my old favourite spots in the village, if you want.”

“Sure,” Link said. “I...I want to know more about you, Sheik,” he said. His voice was soft and it was just like a hundred years ago when they- he shouldn’t be thinking about this kind of thing anymore. “Can you tell me more about you? Because we- we knew each other really well in the past, didn’t we?”

“You could say that.” Sheik knelt down, glad he had a hood to hide his face. He focused on worming a hearty radish out of the ground and brushing the dirt off of it, forcing himself not to look back and see the expression on Link’s face. “What sort of things do you want to know? Ask, and you will receive, as they say.”

“What kind of stuff did we do together?” Link asked, and Sheik absolutely had to prevent his mind from going to what they did at night when they were alone. His face still felt flushed though, despite his best efforts. “Sort of, I don’t know, the kinds of things we did on a daily basis?”

“Ah…almost everything,” Sheik said, standing up and trying to give his best casual shrug. “We were very close. We had to be, for our job, and...we enjoyed each other’s company, too. I still enjoy your company very much.” A little flirting wouldn’t hurt, would it? He had to gauge whether or not Link was still interested in him somehow.

Link flushed a light pink colour almost immediately, and Sheik felt hope light up in his heart. “I mean, what kinds of jobs did we do? We worked together protecting the princess, of course, but what did that involve? Were we in Castle Town? Were we travelling like we are now? I just- I have nothing to compare our current experiences to.”

“It was a mixture. For most of the five years we were with her, Zelda was studying and training and researching, with the occasional trip out to the Springs of Power and Courage. We travelled with her a lot once it became clear that Calamity Ganon would rise again, and our final trip was to the Spring of Wisdom. It was on the way back from there that- that the Calamity awoke.” Sheik sighed, pausing in his mushroom gathering for a moment. “Essentially, our task was to follow Princess Zelda everywhere and guard her with our lives.”

“So when we weren’t out with her and protecting her, what did we do?” Goddesses, Link was so curious. Sheik didn’t mind, in fact he loved being able to tell Link about everything. Anything that would help Link feel more confident in himself would be absolutely amazing. “Did we live in the castle?”

“We did.” Sheik didn’t mention that they’d shared a room since they were fifteen. “We, ah...we spent a lot of our time together. Doing...plenty of things.” It was getting harder and harder to avoid saying ‘we kissed and spent nights watching the stars on the castle balconies’, so he straightened up and held out a handful of mushrooms to Link. “We should head back to the village.”

“Don’t forget to give me your hundred year old tour,” Link said, taking the mushrooms and shoving them into his bag in a way that was way too careless for someone holding half a forest in their bag. “I want to know which trees seven year old Sheik fell out of, and which house you lived in.”

“Alright, alright.” Sheik looked up at the trees, trying to remember if he had fallen out of any. He hadn’t done that much climbing up here as a child. “I lived in what’s now one of the general stores. The one owned by the carrot guy.” 

“I think he has a name, Sheik.”

“Yeah? You tell me what it is.” 

“...Fair point.” Link shrugged, bounding ahead and down the hill towards the village. “Were the plum trees there when you were a child? The plums look really good, but I think that old woman might kill me if I took one…”

“There were apple trees when I lived there,” Sheik said. “So they were planted after I left. And yeah, she looks scary, but I don’t think she’s up to fighting the hero of legend,” he said with a grin. Link just groaned at the mention of the title.

“Please, don’t call me that. I don’t feel like a hero of legend…” Link reached behind him, fiddling with the end of the sheath of his sword. Sheik knew he missed the Master Sword. He wondered what Zelda had done with it, after Link had almost died. Well he’d kind of really died. Sheik was there. He didn’t remember exactly, but he was pretty sure his body had given up after Link collapsed.

“I’m sorry,” Sheik said with a wry smile. “Anyway…on with the tour. I used to swim in the pool around Impa’s house, although it wasn’t her house then. It’s always belonged to the village elder, and Impa was only a couple of years older than me when I left here.”

“Wait, really? Is that what she meant when she said she’d been waiting for you to return?” Link bent down, and his fingertips brushed the gently rippling surface of the water. He looked slightly enchanted and Sheik couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah. At the time, I never actually intended leaving, well, for over one hundred years,” he said. Honestly, he felt an element of regret in that. He should have come back before. Said goodbye to his parents, who were now long gone, or his childhood friends, or anyone, really.

“I don’t remember what happened, but I’m sorry I got hurt and...and took away your life.” Link sat down at the edge of the water, leaning over to stare at his reflection. 

“No…besides, I got injured too. I only lived long enough to see you-” Sheik cut himself off and went to join him, daring to sit close enough that their shoulders brushed against each other. “It isn’t your fault. And...even if I don’t have my old life, I have a new one. You’re still in it, so how bad can it be?”


	4. Costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link buys something to help them in gathering supplies.

At first, the discovery of a strange little merchant named Kilton hadn’t seemed like much of a big deal. Hyrule was full of bizarre people and places, and a man with a glowing shop who disappeared every day at sunrise was just another one of those oddities. But of course, Link being Link, he had bought into Kilton’s strange ideas about currency and monster parts, and he had spent the last five minutes browsing through various wares whilst Sheik waited a little impatiently nearby.

Link had dug a huge pile of monster teeth out of his bag to exchange and Kilton hadn’t even batted an eye. Barely anyone in Hyrule dared challenge monsters, and if they did they usually didn’t survive (they had rescued at least five people already, it was very worrying to wonder what happened to people when they weren’t there), but Kilton didn’t seem surprised to see all of this at all.

A few minutes later, he came bounding back over to Sheik, a smirk on his lips and something hidden behind his back. Sheik raised an eyebrow, trying to get a glimpse of the object, but Link wasn’t giving anything away. “Do I dare ask what you’ve bought? It’s not a pet monster of some kind, is it?”

“Goddesses no,” Link said, pulling out a slightly crumpled bundle of cloth from behind his back. “Look! It’s a mask and it looks like a Bokoblin.” It did sort of look like a Bokoblin, if Sheik squinted and tilted his head to a rather precise angle, but there was something very off about it. And it smelled of Bokoblin.

“Link, please tell me what you’re going to do with that thing. I can’t see you wearing it just for fun…” Actually, maybe he could. Link seemed to be extra dorky now he had no memory of all the formalities surrounding his position.

“I’m going to wear it and sneak into a Bokoblin camp,” Link announced with a delighted grin. “Will you cover my back for me, in case they spot me anyway?”

“Surely they’ll spot me,” Sheik said, and Link just grinned before pulling out another bundle of cloth. Sheik groaned. Link had bought two of these things just for a risky prank. “Please no,” he said. “We’ll both get slaughtered and I won’t even look attractive when it happens if I’m wearing that.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Link said, glancing at the ground as he spoke. Sheik thought he might have detected a hint of a blush, but Link tugged the mask on over his head before Sheik could get a proper look. The mask was even sillier on Link’s head- the eyes were made of buttons, and the tongue lolled out of the mouth at a ridiculous angle. “Come on. Let’s go find a camp!”

Reluctantly, Sheik pulled the smelly mask over his head. It reeked of Bokoblin, and he bet that this was what would appease them, if anything (he was still expecting them to just immediately attack both of them).   
It didn’t take long to find a Bokoblin camp. Those things were everywhere in Hyrule these days- it was a far cry from the peaceful times of old when a lone monster was a rare and newsworthy sight. To Sheik’s surprise, the masks seemed to be working. The Bokoblins squinted suspiciously at them, but none attacked. In fact, they came up to them immediately to say hello and they stayed interested. Sheik was only shocked into stunned silence, unable to speak because of the intense fear and also the smell. Goddesses, the smell was awful.

Link glanced over at him and gave him a thumbs up, presumably in lieu of one of his stupid cheesy grins. And then he reached back and drew his sword. Still, the Bokoblins didn’t make any move to attack, they just squawked in surprise and danced around a bit more. This was intensely strange and, honestly, Sheik didn’t like it. He readied his weapon along with Link and waited, hopefully, for the inevitable order to attack. He didn’t want to stay here any longer than absolutely necessary.

Link motioned with his head to the weapons leaning against a log on the ground, and Sheik looked at them. He only had enough room to pick one up and he might be able to grab a shield too, so he focused in on the spiked club and tried to walk over very casually. He picked up the club, hefting it with one hand and grabbing a spiked shield with the other. A quick glance over at Link, and a questioning tilt of his head was met with a nod. Finally. Sheik lifted his club, swinging it around to smack a Bokoblin straight in the chest. The other monsters started screeching, all of a sudden in a frenzy of panic and aggression.

The masks had given him enough time to gauge the kinds of Bokoblins in the camp and how many there were. Mostly red Bokoblins, thankfully, as they hadn’t been able to scavenge many good weapons, and there was one blue Bokoblin Link had taken on when they engaged them. Of course he had. Sheik preoccupied himself with the smaller ones, whirling around to hit enemy after enemy. One Bokoblin managed to smack him hard in the side with a club- it wouldn’t incapacitate him for long, but Sheik had a feeling he wouldn’t be doing too much walking for the rest of the day.

Link made fairly quick work of the blue Bokoblin, and by the time Sheik was done with his, Link had climbed up onto the camp watchtower and had take out their archer, making sure to grab the remaining arrows from his quiver. They were always in need of arrows. Always. Sheik climbed their other platform to grab the treasure they kept in the camp, which was a chunk of ruby. Nice. “You okay over there?” He called, pulling the mask off his face.

“I think so,” Link called back. He tugged his mask off too, shaking his wayward hair back into place. “You were really good…are you alright?” Sheik nodded, then paused, his hands going to touch the bruise on his side. 

“I’m almost alright. I could do with a few hour’s rest. And it looks like it’s about to rain, too, so perhaps now’s a good time to settle down for the night.” Link nodded, looking around. They were a pretty long way away from anywhere they could safely travel to at night. It was really dangerous to travel when monsters could see better than they could.

“Should we see if we can find somewhere sheltered where we can make a fire?” Link asked. “It’s pretty rocky, do you know if there are any caves around here?”

“Ah…I think so.” Sheik glanced around, spotting a loose pile of rocks piled into a gap in the wall. “Blow those out of the way, there’ll probably be a gap behind there. And maybe some treasure, too…” He kept a safe distance back as Link rolled a bomb towards the rocks, and they exploded to reveal a small cave with an old treasure chest in the middle of it. Inside, he found another a piece of sapphire, which really wasn’t too bad. They’d made money from tonight, which was the ultimate aim of any raid on a camp.

“We could even shove some of the rocks back over the front, leaving a gap of course, and then we would both be able to sleep,” Link said. “If you think that’s safe, of course. There have been lots of monsters around here and I don’t want to leave us wide open.”

“Good idea. Sheik stooped to pick up a large chunk of rock, groaning as his bruise throbbed in complaint. “Ouch, you’d better do the heavy lifting. I’ll get started on a fire.” He sat himself down inside of the little cave, retrieving some wood and flint from his bag. A few moments later, there was a flame, and with some encouragement, he managed to get a decent fire going. They’d need some more wood if they wanted to keep it going all night, but for now it was fine.

Link was done within a few minutes, having created a small wall over the cave entrance out of debris, and he wasted no time in pulling a couple of fish out of his bag and roasting them over the fire on a small spear they’d picked up in the last camp. They tasted good, even though Sheik was well aware that they’d been caught via the very unorthodox method of ‘tossing bombs into a lake and hoping for the best’. 

“Is your side alright?” Before Sheik could answer, he felt Link’s fingers pressing very gently against the bruise, trying to gauge how serious the injury was. “I can make you a potion to help if you want.”

“Forgive me if I don’t trust potions made by an amnesiac,” Sheik said with a smile. “I’m sure I’ll feel better with some food and rest.” Link nodded, turning his focus back to the fire while they both ate their fish.

In the small space of the cave, they were pressed a little close to each other, but Sheik couldn’t say he minded in the slightest. It reminded him of old times, being close to each other, snuggled up warmly in some small corner. He’d missed it so, so much. It was a shame that it wasn’t the same as it used to be.

“Do you mind if I ask something sort of personal about the past?” Link asked. His voice was incredibly quiet and sort of apprehensive in a way it hadn’t been since just after he woke up. “It’s...about me before.”

“That’s fine,” he said. Link nodded and shifted to get a little more comfortable. He was even closer now.

“In the past, did we know each other- romantically?” Sheik’s breath caught in his throat when he heard Link’s words. How had he figured it out? He had tried to be subtle. How was he even supposed to answer that question? If he said yes, Link might be disgusted, or angry at Sheik for not telling him before. If he said no, that was a lie, and what if Link liked him? Either response could end badly, but in all honesty, Sheik knew already what he was going to do. He took a deep breath, praying that this wouldn’t end badly.

“I- Yes. Yes, we did.” Saying it made his heart race and Link’s long pause very nearly made it stop. “We were- for two years before everything went to hell. I didn’t want to say it when you woke up because I didn’t want to put any pressure on you, and then there was never a good-”

“Do you still feel that way?” Link asked. Oh goddesses why did he have to ask such awful questions. Why was his life like this. Still...honesty had always been his policy, and he couldn’t think of a better time to put that policy to the test. If Link abandoned him after this, he was sure he could find some other way to live his life. Maybe. Somehow. 

“I do, but I’m not going to ask us to go back to the past or anything,” he said. “Not until we’re both ready for that kind of thing again. This world is...not suited for that kind of thing yet, at least not until we know we want to.”

“I know,” Link said. He didn’t say any more after that, just shifting a little closer to Sheik. Sheik let the silence hang as well, content to leave this moment as it was. Link hadn’t denied his feelings, which probably meant...well, Sheik didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself. But he had hope for the future, and there was a warm happiness in his chest that he hadn’t felt in a hundred years.


	5. Dark Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link and Sheik go stargazing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took this prompt a little liberally :) didn't feel like writing angst so we took it to mean the dark side of the moon.

“The night sky looks better than it did a hundred years ago,” Sheik mused. They’d decided to stay the night in Rito Village, with the intention of heading out to the Flight Range the next day. “I suppose it looks better because there’s fewer people around, which means less smoke and less light…depressing, I know, but at least it’s beautiful.”

“Well, we can appreciate it while it lasts, and we can also appreciate that when it’s gone, the world is better.” Or the world could be burning, that would produce light and smoke that hid the stars. But they didn’t entertain that suggestion because actually everything was going pretty well at this point. There hadn’t been any close calls for a while.

“I suppose so,” Sheik said. “I’m just alarmed by how different Hyrule is now. I suppose it’s that loss of a trading hub, but everyone is so inwards-focused these days.”

“Well, let’s focus outwards for a bit,” Link said with a shrug. “Let’s just watch the stars. We deserve a nice night after everything we’ve been through. And we should be happy that there isn’t a blood moon tonight…” Sheik shuddered. Blood moons were his least favourite thing about this new Hyrule, except perhaps Lynels.

“Yeah, let’s just watch the sky,” Sheik said with a smile on his face. He shifted slightly closer to Link. It was cold here because of the mountains nearby and because of their altitude, and they needed the warmth. They’d invested in a warm tunic for Sheik and feather lined boots for both of them, and once they had enough rupees they were going to replace the ratty old warm tunic Link had been given on the plateau. 

The moon was half full tonight, the dark side of it still just about visible in the bright night sky. Sheik followed the round edge of the moon with his eyes, keen gaze picking out deep craters on the surface. “I wonder how big the moon actually is… It must be larger than it looks. Much larger.”

“I had a dream once that the moon was furry,” Link said. Sheik snorted. “What? I mean, if it had fine hairs on it like, I don’t know, your chin, then we wouldn’t be able to see them from here.”

“You told me about a weird dream about the moon that you had once. Back before everything happened.” Neither of them ever said ‘before you died’ or ‘before you lost your memory’. They didn’t even name it as the Calamity like the people of Hyrule did. “It was a scary recurring dream you had.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… You used to dream that you were trapped in some strange country called Termina, and that the moon had a massive creepy face on it and it was slowly falling towards the ground. You could describe everything in really vivid detail, it was slightly disturbing.”

“That sounds scary,” Link said. His voice was thoughtful, obviously trying to recall either the dream or telling someone about it. He did this every time Sheik mentioned some interaction they’d had in the past. “Does the sky look any different from Hyrule Castle?”

“Ah...maybe a little. The stars always looked a little brighter and closer from there. I- we used to stargaze from the balconies sometimes. We’d climb up to the highest tower and spend the night there, just watching…” Sheik trailed off, a small smile on his lips at the memory. He was still getting used to this, being able to tell Link about the things that they had done when they were together.

“Is the highest tower where that light was coming from before?” Link asked. Sheik adjusted his gaze to where he could see the faint pink glow of the castle, and then he shook his head.

“That was the sanctum,” he said. “We used to climb above that tower over it, to the left? We couldn’t climb on the walls of the sanctum itself, that would be disrespectful. No one goes in there, it’s sacred.”

“Hmm… I still don’t remember it.” Link sighed. “It’s frustrating, only having these tiny snatches of memory to cling onto.” There had been five instances now where they’d stumbled across the places Zelda had photographed and Link had simply stopped dead, looking stunned for a good thirty seconds each time. And each time, he would almost collapse, looking to Sheik for support as he detailed the memories he has witnessed. 

“I know. But we’ll get everything back eventually. There’s- what, seven more photographs to track down? I’m cursing myself for not paying more attention to Zelda’s photography habits, or else I’d be a little more help in telling you where to go.”

“Do you think I’ll ever get memories back normally?” Link asked with a sigh. “I don’t like having no memories when you’re there knowing almost everything about me. In comparison I feel like I know nothing about you. I know you, but there are all these details you know that I have no clue about.”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe...maybe there’ll come a point in hunting down these photographs where you’ll just stop and suddenly everything else will click into place. But Link, even if it doesn’t, you have me.” Sheik shifted, turning his face from the stars down towards Link. He could still see the moon, reflected perfectly in those big blue eyes. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Just ask.”

“The memory we found the other day, of the three of us riding together,” Link said. “Did that happen close to the end? Because Zelda mentioned the Spring of Wisdom, which you said was the last place we visited before everything happened.”

Sheik nodded. “Zelda was so worried. She didn’t want to be in the castle around her father, so she asked us if we could go out riding and we ended up going pretty far away from where we were meant to, if I’m honest. Your horse was named Epona, by the way.”

“Epona?” Link smiled. “I like that name. Past me had good taste.” He laughed softly, then rolled over onto his side as well. Sheik felt his heart skip a beat- they were only inches away from each other now, close enough to touch, if only one of them would just lean in-

And then Link yawned, and the spell was broken somewhat. “I’m exhausted… D’you think we could call it a night?”

“Y-yeah, sure,” Sheik said, cursing his lack of courage. He could have leaned in then, but damn it he needed more time to think about whether it was the right time yet. He wasn’t spontaneous enough to take a chance like that.


End file.
